The Chambers Succession

James O. Mote, first Bishop consecrated for the ACC

The Denver Consecrations

The first bishops of the Anglican Church of North America, later named the Anglican Catholic Church (with ACNA kept as an alternate name), were consecrated on 28 January 1978 in Denver, Colorado.

In Denver Charles Dale David Doren, sometime Archdeacon of the Diocese of Taejon in South Korea, was consecrated by the Rt Rev’d Albert Arthur Chambers, sometime Bishop of Springfield (Illinois) in the Episcopal Church and Acting Metropolitan of the ACNA. Joining Bishop Chambers in the consecration of Doren was the Rt Rev’d Francisco de Jesus Pagtakhan of the Philippine Independent Catholic Church. Letters of Consent and Desire for the Doren consecration were in hand from the Rt Rev’d Mark Pae (Taejon, Korea).

It was subsequently suggested that Bishop Pae withdrew this Consent under pressure from overseas. However, Bishop Pae physically participated in the consecration of two ACC bishops in 1988, thereby confirming his approval of the ACC and his consent and desire for its episcopal succession. The Rt Rev’d Charles Boynton also indicated his intention to participate in the Denver consecrations, and his consent thereto, by advance letter to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. However, a critical hospitalization prior to the consecrations prevented Bishop Boynton’s physical presence. Bishop Boynton subsequently joined the Anglican Catholic Church, confirming his consent to and approval of the Denver consecrations.

After Bishop Doren’s consecration, he joined Bishops Chambers and Pagtakhan on the same day and place in consecrating three other bishops for the ACNA: James Orin Mote, Robert Sherwood Morse, and Peter Francis Watterson. These four Denver consecrations of 1978 bestowed the Apostolic Succession upon the ACNA/ACC and permitted it to move from provisional organization, an Acting Metropolitan, and proto-dioceses to full and permanent Church organization. The bishops consecrated on this date, along with Bishop Chambers and other bishops formerly belonging to the Anglican Communion, were the consecrators, or the consecrators of the consecrators, of all subsequent ACC bishops. Sister dioceses to the ACC were subsequently established by Bishop Morse (Anglican Diocese [later Province] of Christ the King) and Bishop Doren (United Episcopal Church of North America). Bishops from both of these sister jurisdictions have participated in the consecrations of ACC bishops as noted below, and these ‘Denver Succession’ Churches remain in full communion with one another.

The ACC later also established a second Province in India, by receiving the Church of India, Pakistan, Ceylon, and Burma (CIPBC). After this reception the Original Province of the ACC both consecrated bishops for the Second Province and also provided Acting Metropolitans for the Indian Province. The Acting Metropolitans from the Original Province were Archbishop Louis Wahl Falk, Archbishop William Oliver Lewis, and Bishop James Edward Bromley. After the consecration of Bishop John Augustine by the Original Province in 2003 (as noted below), the Indian Church elected him titular bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India. A chart below lists the Indian bishops in the ACC who were consecrated following the reception of the Second Province, but without the full information concerning consecrations that is provided for the bishops of the Original Province, as the Indians have not yet participated in Original Province consecrations.

Succession of Bishops in the Anglican Catholic Church

The following chart gives every bishop consecrated in, by, and for the Original Province of the Anglican Catholic Church. Each such bishop is assigned a number indicating the order of his consecration. This chart also includes Archbishop John Augustine of India. The first two decades of the ACC were very unstable, and a number of the men consecrated did not remain long in the ACC. Nonetheless, for the sake of a full record, all Original Province consecrations are listed here, including conditional (sub conditione) consecrations. Also included here are bishops consecrated in other undoubtedly Catholic Churches who subsequently joined the ACC and participated in its consecrations.

The chart contains four columns: first, a three digit number indicating a bishop’s order of consecration within the ACC, or the order of accession if the bishop listed was received in episcopal orders. The second column gives the name of the man consecrated or received. The third column lists the consecrating bishops, either with a number from the first column or by name if the bishop was from another Church and was not an ACC bishop with an assigned number. The final and fourth column gives the date of the consecration or, in the case of those received in orders, accession to the ACC. In the case of the consecrating bishops (third column) most of the consecrators will themselves be ACC bishops whose number will be associated with a name and consecration in this same chart.

Archbishop Cahoon was received from the Province of Christ the King

Bishops not consecrated in the Anglican Catholic Church who have participated in her consecrations include, of course, the Denver consecrators: Bishop Chambers (the Right Reverend Albert Arthur Chambers); Bishop Pagtakhan (the Right Reverend Francisco de Jesus Pagtakhan); Bishop Pae by Consent (the Right Reverend Mark Pae); and, Bishop Boynton by Consent (the Right Reverend Charles Francis Boynton, sometime Bishop of Puerto Rico and sometime Suffragan Bishop of New York in the Episcopal Church). Other bishops not consecrated in the Original Province but mentioned below are Bishop Woolcock (the Right Reverend Alfred Woolcock) of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, who was himself consecrated by both ACC and APCK bishops.; Bishop Reber (the Right Reverend Stephen C. Reber) of the United Episcopal Church of North America (UECNA); and, Bishop Robinson (the Right Reverend Peter Robinson), also of the UECNA.

The Right Reverend John Thayer Cahoon, Jr., and the Right Reverend Brother John-Charles Vockler are both assigned numbers below and are listed as of the dates of their accession to the ACC. Bishop, later Archbishop, Cahoon was consecrated in the Anglican Province of Christ the King in the line of episcopal succession as given below through Bishop Robert Sherwood Morse and his Diocese, with an ACC bishop joining in his consecration for the APCK. Brother John-Charles Vockler, sometime Suffragan Bishop of Mount Gambier in the Anglican Church of Australia and sometime Bishop Ordinary of Polynesia in the Anglican Communion, was consecrated in 1959 in the Anglican Church of Australia. He too is given a number in the chart below as of his accession to the ACC in 1994. The names of his Australian consecrators and their episcopal offices in 1959 are readily available in standard records of the Anglican Communion and its Australian Church.

Two other bishops, Walter Hollis Adams and Robert George Wilkes, both from the Anglican Episcopal Church, served as bishops for a time in the ACC, but were never conditionally consecrated in the ACC despite a background as episcopi vagantes. Adams and Wilkes participated in the consecrations of three ACC bishops in the 1980s by joining the canonical consecrators in the laying on of hands. However, Adams and Wilkes are not themselves numbered in this list of ACC bishops due to their own irregular consecrations.

In the third column the name or number in bold is the chief consecrator, who either would be the Metropolitan or Acting Metropolitan or would be a bishop acting with the warrant of the Metropolitan or Acting Metropolitan.